Online Best Practices
Certification:
Existing and New Courses
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Dr. Shakil Rahman
and
Dr. JoAnna Shore
Order of Presentation
Frostburg State and online
Higher Education Landscape
When Online teaching is Effective
Understanding the “Best Practices”
 Strategies to achieve “Best Practices”
Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts
What is the Future of Online
Q&A
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Frostburg State University Goes Online
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 FSU offered its first online courses Summer of 2003
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In 2003, 332 total enrollment (UG and Grad classes)
Undergraduate courses accounted for 82.2%
Graduate courses accounted for 17.8%
In 2003, 22 sections of UG classes and 3 sections of Grad were offered.
 FSU is now completed its 12 year of offering courses online
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In 2014, 2074 total enrollment (UG and Grad classes. A total increase of 624%)
Undergraduate courses accounted for 83.7%
Graduate courses accounted for 16.3%
In Summer 2014, 167UG classes and 47 Grad classes were offered
Changing Higher Education Landscape
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 There are a number of drivers of change in higher education today,
including:
 Technology
 Globalization
 Changing demographics
 Economy & Outsourcing
 Changing employer needs
 Increased job demand for improvement
 Flexibility (time and location) and
 Changing student expectations: An alternative to the traditional
classroom but not at the risk of losing a high-quality learning
experience
 The challenge is to deliver online courses as effectively as face to face
courses.
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When Online teaching is effective
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To be Effective online teacher is a challenging task for the
online instructor. In a traditional classroom, instructor can
adjust content, delivery, assignments, and even the schedule
of activities as the course evolves, as they react to the needs
of the students.
An online instructor must
 design the course in advance,
 preparing materials,
 schedules,
 assessments,
 and even discussion topics.
When Online teaching is effective
Once the course begins, an effective teacher must give
considerable attention to facilitating the course. The
instructor is fully absorbed with
 Communication,
 including e-mail,
 Threaded discussions,
 Social chats, and
 Work hard to meet the varied needs and demands of the
students.
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When Online teaching is effective
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When online teaching is effective—that is,
 When students benefit most from an online course
 Teachers must remain visibly and
 Students are actively involved in the learning, may be
even to a greater degree than in the traditional classroom
(students’ center learning).
When Online teaching is effective
• Effective teachers, according to the students:
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 Work hard to involve everyone in the learning activities,
 Communicate well,
 Motivate students to do their best,
 Improve student understanding ---provide meaningful and
practical connections between theory and practice,
 Show concern for student learning, And
 Committed to an online course effectiveness.
 This includes providing a structured yet comfortable
classroom environment and communicating with students
in a consistent, thoughtful, and personal way (Young 2009).
Now question is:
How to be effective online instructor?
To answer above question
 Understanding the “Best Practices”
Strategies to achieve it
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Understanding the Online teaching Best
Practices
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Why should we focus on best practice?
 Before implementing a best online teaching practices,
we must agree how to define them. In education, the
phrase best online teaching practice is used for a wide
variety of activities and approaches that may or may
not have been rigorously evaluated. Due to frequent
use, the term is practically meaningless. A Google
search for this phrase identified nearly over 550
million web pages. Adding the word definition to the
previous search phrase helped slightly; Google
identified 172 million web pages
Contd.: Online teaching of Best Practices
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 This presentation defines Best Online Teaching Practices as
the wide range of individual activities, policies, and
programmatic approaches to achieve positive changes in
student attitudes or academic behaviors. This umbrella
term encompasses the following outcomes: promising,
validated, and exemplary.
o Promising practice: Contains detailed information
describing the practice with its theoretical basis and how
to implement it.
o Validated practice: A promising education practice that
has undergone rigorous evaluation documenting
positive student outcomes in online setting.
o Exemplary practice: A validated education practice
successfully replicated at multiple online settings with
similar positive student outcomes.
Contd.: Online teaching of Best Practices
 Best online practice activities:
o These activities are behaviors or policies by faculty, staff,
and administrators that result in positive changes in
student attitudes or academic behaviors.
o Examples include mandatory assessment of students for
proper advisement and placement of students in their
classes, training/orientation students before they begin
their work, active learning activities within the
classroom, and classroom assessment techniques to
provide feedback resulting in changed student learning
behaviors.
Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices
Instructional Design Elements
 Support & Resources: Students are provided information as to
where to get technical help.
 The “Orientation Guide” section includes:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Technology check,
Help Desk hours,
Communication & etiquette guidelines,
Assignment submission procedures,
Technology requirements,
Navigation menu,
And student support Services
 Course Goals/Objectives (Overall and Each Chapter)
 Instructional Design & Delivery (Module format)
 Syllabus is online and complete (including course expectations,
grading criteria, course policies and expectations, schedule with
due dates )
 Assessment & Evaluation
Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices
Communication
 Interaction among Learners.
o Discussion Boards
o and/or chat available,
o Blackboard Collaborate
 Interaction between Learners and Instructor,
o
o
o
o
Instructor communication style
How feedback is given including frequency
Feedback on discussion forums,
Assignments,
 Interaction between Learners and Course Materials,
o Resources for completing course activities are provided.
Contd.: Strategies to achieve the Online best Practices
Course Management
 Time Requirement ( General time requirement expectation and
miss deadline penalty)
 Evaluating student progress
o Syllabus should include the grading system that is used including
Weighted grading
o Blackboard Grade Center is used for grading
o Grading Rubrics
o Paper/Case length, format, research expectation, citation , etc
o Individual or Group responsibility
Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts
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Don’t assume students have the minimum equipment and/or skill
requirements needed to be successful in an online course.
Be sure to make the minimum equipment and/or skill requirements
readily available to students prior to the official start date.
Don’t assume students understand the workings of an online
course.
Offer them tips for online learners that include knowledge of
traditional versus online learning, Web etiquette, helpful links, and
where to go for help.
Effective Online Teaching: Dos and Don’ts
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Don’t let students think that The online instructor is available to
the students 24/7.
Set expectations with students with respect to instructor response
times including your daily (Monday to Friday) online
working/checking hours.
Indicate when you will be grading assignments, and posting to
discussion boards. Also tell students if late assignments will be
graded on the same or on an extended timeline
Don’t assume students know the more important rules and
regulations in the syllabus.
Give them a short syllabus quiz and require that they score 100
percent before they continue in the course (May be 5-7 questions
plenty).
What is the Future of Online
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Distance learning solutions and online educational tools are
rapidly growing in popularity and effectiveness with
teachers, colleges and university-level programs worldwide.
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One recent survey estimated that at least one in five
undergraduates has participated in at least one "distance
education" course as part of their studies, and many middle,
high and even elementary school teachers have begun using
some form of distance learning in the classroom.
For modern educators looking to provide the best tools and
services for distance learning solutions, here are a dozen top
resources to consider:
Any Questions!
If you need a power point for this presentation, Please
give one of us your email. We will email you.
Thank you!